Effraim Catlow: 14 Years of Flatmattersonline!

Hello everyone!

14 years of Flatmattersonline, can you believe it?!!!

I’ve been stacking clips in between injuries for the last three and a half years. This edit for me has been a real case of going against the grain of what everyone else seems to be doing. The norm now seems to be most riders post their clips as soon as they have landed them straight onto the gram. For me, the gram is for leftover clips and photographs.

Videoparts are our album, I had this conversation with a few riders out in Abu Dhabi recently. There’s a lot of riders in the current scene with “no” albums or at least no a recent one. It seems really sad to me, there isn’t a right lot to watch right now “video part” wise unless you go back digging (which there is nothing wrong with).

Continue reading

Chris Young & Pete Brandt: Clocktower Sessions

Two Flatland Assassins, Chris Young & Pete Brandt took over the Clocktower in San Francisco, California recently for a session in the Fall whilst Chris was in town. Flatland is all about different styles, and friends pushing each other, and this comes through right here with Chris’ glass smooth flow across the granite marble riding surface, and Pete’s attack mode on both and front/back wheel make this one a fun watch, look out for Pete’s last line at 2:58!

Episode 69: Flatmattersonline Exclusive with Pete Brandt

YO!!!

What’s up everybody?
Flatland lifer, SF flatland legend, Pete Brandt comes through with a belter of back wheel line for episode 69. At the age of 50, the flatland assassin, Pete B shows no sign of slowing down and I love the detail in this line.
Pete locks into four spins, after the opening shove-it switch foot mega spins, and holds a similar amount of revolutions on the no handed straddle time machine, hook spin, Adam Kun signature spin (no handed spinning lawn?), and no handed blender and stamps this with that Pete B finesse and aggressive we have all come to love.
This clip got me hyped, filmed by skater homie Chris Dunn, and a cameo from Larry Redmon holla’ing “We out here!!!”. SF represent to the fullest, missing the Clocktower vibes….

It’s time to go ride!!!

Thanks to Pete for throwing down for ep.69 (his second exclusive), whose got episode 70? Get at me, the American riders have stepped up big time for these exclusives. Anyone else notice that??!!!

Flat Snitches: Episode 3 / The Backyard

Intro: Effraim.
Interview: Effraim & Pete Brandt.
Photos: Tim Treacy.

Welcome to Episode 3 of Flat Snitches, an educational resource on the history of trick inventions in flatland. We have a very special guest for our third episode, Ladies and Gentlemen… Tim Treacy from San Francisco! Tim was one of the first pioneers of the scuffing technique in flatland in the 1980’s. San Francisco was a hot bed of creative talent back in the day at Golden Gate Park that are now legendary in flatland circles and via coverage in Freestylin’ inspired riders across the globe.

Have you ever done a backyard? Maybe a two footed rolling backyard in the modern era? Were you ever curious. Where did this trick come from?

Episode 3 focuses on the Backyard, myself and Pete Brandt dig beneath the surface of this trick and interview the man behind this staple move in flatland. It’s time for the interview!

Continue reading

The Flatmattersonline Pete Brandt Interview!

In my opinion, You couldn’t really script this story.. Who would have thought my childhood hero would organise a go fund me fundraiser to get me out to San Francisco and the One Love Jam.

Wait what????

How many would do this or even think about doing this for another rider? It is and was an amazing gesture. So much so I pinched myself at various points of the long flight over to SF. Is this really happening??

As Pete broke the news, aside from my initial disbelief, and thoughts of finally riding the clocktower and going to the One Love Jam. This was finally my chance after ten years of running Flatmattersonline to interview Pete and ask him all the things I was curious about over the years.

I first travelled to SF when I was seven years old with parents, then again at 14 years old and to compete for the X Games in 99, and 2000. The city definitely strikes a chord with me, it is my favourite place to travel in the world. So much history here, the bridges, all the different cultures, the views each way you look, the people, you can ride around Embarcardero and see all the famous skatespots just a throws away from the legendary Clocktower spot that Pete rides everyday, making the 40 minute BART commute from across the bay in Fremont.

I have met Pete numerous times over the years at contests across the globe, and even at the San Francisco X-Games twice which we discuss in the interview.
I haven’t however, hung out with Pete for any considerable amount of time, until this dream trip. I think it’s fair to say we got along so well I now consider Pete a close friend and we share a lot of the same music tastes, views on flatland, we both vibe off skateboarding, and best of all just a lot of laughs and good flatland sessions.
As I approach my 45th birthday in March, seeing Pete still going as hard as ever was a massive motivation to me “hey you can still do this and work a full time job and juggle family life with kids” and be an absolute monster to boot.

There are multiple layers to Pete’s life, which we cover in this interview. The term “legend” gets over used a lot, but Pete really is a flatland legend. And in fact as I now call it he is an “architect”. Pete has helped shape the spot/artform we all love, have you ever shove-it’ed mid trick, done a crackpacker, held a hitchhiker on the peg instead of tyre, used plastic pedals, use a freecoaster, these are all things Pete invented and made them popular and the list goes on.

The man deserves a BIG interview so much I can’t even stress this enough. Our sport/artform needs to respect the architects that shaped what we love today, and Pete is still going hard and infact I can almost guranteed he’s the last to read this and will be out shredding at the clocktower without a care in the world other than riding his bike and doing what he loves on the daily.

Over the years, I have met just about everyone in the flatland scene and Pete is the realist rider I have met. This guy eats, sleeps, and breathes flatland, and he totally gets it.

Grab a cuppa, and make some time to learn about one of the best riders to ever do it. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s do this, the Flatmattersonline Pete Brandt Interview! This is for all the hardcore riders out there, proud to bring this exclusive to the flatland scene.

Effraim Catlow / Flatmattersonline

4K—Chasing Pete Brandt

Film maker Terry Barentsen teamed with Pete Brandt at the Embarcadero in San Francisco to bring us all this fun edit that documents the journey to the riding spot (in this case the Clocktower), the locals, the vibe, the street characters (3:02), the fire haul turbine hitch straighten out straight line hitch to dark side halfpacker line at 1:54 is amazing, really enjoyed this edit!